Carbrooke pub’s new landlady apologises for party which ‘got out of hand’

The new landlady at a pub near Watton, which is at the centre of a police investigation into an unlicensed music event which took place last Saturday, has apologised to neighbours for the disturbance and vowed to turn the business around.

Michelle Stewart said she was shocked to turn up at the Flying Fish Inn in Carbrooke at 10pm on Saturday to find around 200 people on land behind the pub.

She had just arrived at the pub ahead of taking over the licence on Monday.

Police had received telephone calls during the evening reporting loud music coming from pub. Sound equipment and generators were seized and a man was arrested.

Ms Stewart, who has moved to Norfolk from Peterborough, said it was supposed to be a private birthday party but it “got out of hand”.

She added: “It was meant to be a bouncy castle, barbecue and disco for a customer’s birthday but it got a lot louder than expected and people were putting messages out on social media for people to come.

“The landlord and I decided to shut down the bar to make people disperse and we worked with the police to bring it to a close.

“We do apologise for the noise and disruption. Any future events will be held inside because of our concern for the neighbours.”

She said her main goal was to relaunch the Flying Fish as a family pub.

The event stopped at around 1am on Sunday morning with police working to ensure that the scene was cleared as soon as possible.

A man arrested in connection with the incident was released on police bail pending further inquiries.

A multi-agency investigation will continue into the incident which will be supported by Norfolk police’s specialist licensing team.